A semiconductor light emitting element described in Patent Document 1 includes an active layer, a pair of cladding layers sandwiching the active layer, and a phase modulation layer optically coupled to the active layer. The phase modulation layer has a base layer and a plurality of modified refractive index regions each of which has a refractive index different from a refractive index of the base layer. When a square lattice is set on the phase modulation layer, each of the modified refractive index regions (main holes) is arranged so as to coincide with a center point (lattice point) of a corresponding region (having a square shape) in the square lattice. An auxiliary modified refractive index region (sub hole) is provided around the modified refractive index region, and light having a predetermined beam pattern can be emitted.